For my first two years I had nice, sturdy magazine holders that my students would store 5 books in per week. With twenty (or less!) students they were able to pick books on their assigned day, store them in their bins and we had no problems!
With 28 students over five kids are picking books on their assigned day it clogs up the library (the solution to this is easy--give them more/different times to pick on a day). With 28 students I didn't have enough of the plastic, sturdy magazine holders so I turned them over to a colleague and bought the white magazine holders from IKEA. 28 boxes don't fit well on the shelves where I had previously had LOTS of room for 20 boxes.
The kids destroyed the magazine holders from IKEA. I wonder if I didn't give good enough ground rules on how to treat the boxes? Were the shelves too crowded? Were the holders not durable enough? I had students for whom 5 books was not enough, but more books clog the container and "hog" books from others.
Anita (@amsgoodwin) uses the ice storage containers for her book boxes and says they have held up well. I have seen other recommendations for bags (the thought of storage for these makes me cringe). There are teachers in my school who let kids pick books when it's time to read (the time that must take!).
What should I do??
